Daily Recap — November 12

ELECTIONS UPDATE

There are three states still making headlines from the midterms. Let’s get to the meat and puhtaytahs of all three.

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Arizona Senate Race:

Votes are still being tallied in Arizona, but Dim — and I do mean Dim — Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema has extended her lead over Martha McSally to a point that McSally has conceded.

The story was told in Maricopa County, where many feared McSally would have a tough time due to PDT’s unpopular status among GOP moderates in the state. While PDT does have strong approval within the GOP as a whole, there are some states in which his endorsement can be a liability. There’s a reason RINOs like John McCain and Jeff Flake get elected with regularity in Arizona.

Sinema wisely took advantage of the formidable gender gap within the Trump base, as she presented herself as a ‘moderate, independent’ voice to represent Arizona, a message clearly meant to reel in suburban, college-educated white women. It worked.

The results showed McSally lost every batch of voters from Maricopa County counted so far by early Sunday evening. McSally’s campaign had expected the Maricopa County mail-in votes to be GOP votes for her, but instead, Sinema’s lead has grown. Her campaign said as of Sunday, her lead expanded to 32,640 votes over McSally.

McSally had led by a narrow margin in the days after Election Day, but Sinema took the lead when ballots from heavily Democratic areas such as Maricopa County were counted.

A major factor in why it’s taking days to count the votes is because around three-quarters of Arizona’s voters send mail-in ballots, meaning they fill out their votes at home and mail them to their county board of elections. Since some mail-in ballots arrive close to Election Day, it takes longer to count them.

Additionally, Maricopa County and Pima County — two primarily Dim counties — allow voters to address problems with their mail-in ballots up to five days after the election if there is a disparity between the signature on their voter registration and the signature on the ballot envelope. Last week, four county Republican parties sued to prevent counties from trying to verify signatures after polls closed.

Arizona Dims and Republicans reached a settlement on the issue last Friday, allowing voters in rural counties as well as in Maricopa and Pima to have extra time to fix problems with their ballots. The counties have until November 14 to address the issue.

As I’ve previously noted, while it’s good that extra scrutiny is being paid in order to investigate any wrongdoing, whatever fraud is found is unlikely to change the final outcome.

Bottom Line: Sinema’s strategy was to go after college-educated white women in order to fracture the GOP voting bloc and it worked. It sucks, but that’s the way it is. This voting demographic will continue to be a thorn in our side unless we can find a way to close the gap. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that’s possible, since their objection to Trump is personality-based and thus emotional, rather than rational and policy-based. We’re going to have to find a way to run up the score with the male vote.

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Florida Senate and Governor Races:

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Dim Sen. Bill Nelson has called on Gov. Rick Scott to recuse himself from “any role” in Florida’s recount process as supervisors of elections across the state begin the mandatory machine recount of more than 8.2 million ballots cast in this year’s race.

Over half of Florida’s 67 counties began recounting votes Sunday in the tight Senate and gubernatorial races. And shocker — Broward County has run into some problems already. Broward officials said they mistakenly counted 22 absentee ballots that had been rejected because the signature on the return envelope didn’t match the one on file. Those ballots have been mixed in with 205 legal ballots, so Brenda “Sneaky” Snipes, Broward County election supervisor, said it wouldn’t be fair to throw out all the ballots.

And we all know that fairness is her chief concern.

Counts in Miami-Dade and Pinellas and Hillsborough counties in the Tampa Bay area are proceeding without incident so far. Smaller counties start their recounts today, Tuesday or Wednesday. The deadline for all counties is Thursday.

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner ordered recounts in the Senate and governor races on Saturday, as Florida election law dictates a machine recount must be undertaken if the margin between two candidates is within half a percentage point.

The final results of the first count have Scott leading Nelson by approximately 12,500 votes, or roughly .2%. Gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis is leading incompetent, corrupt and ignorant socialist Andrew Gillum by less than 40,000 votes, around .4%.

Scott, who will be in D.C. this week for new Senate member orientation despite the recount, has filed multiple lawsuits, including ones directed at the elections officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Scott won two lawsuits last week to crack open records kept by elections officials open. He filed further lawsuits on Sunday in an attempt to keep elections officials from counting ballots submitted past Election Day.

The ballot-counting issues are (of course) centered in Broward County and Palm Beach County, two Dim cesspools. Scott won his battle in the courts to order the Palm Beach County elections supervisor to submit “over-voted” and “under-voted” absentee ballots to the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board for public review of each vote before they are counted. Over-votes are ballots in which the machines read the voter may have selected more than one candidate, and under-votes occur when the machine does not register a vote on the ballot. The other lawsuit ordered Sneaky Snipes to release records of voter information.

Bottom Line: There are a couple pieces of good news here. First, there has never been a recount that flipped more than a few hundred votes. To over come 12K and 34K leads, respectively, would be unprecedented and highly unlikely. Secondly, while Gov. Scott has left much to be desired with his milquetoast response to overt corruption in the process, the GOP has done a relatively good job of using the courts to get a hold of the situation on the ground. Yes, I know what is going on is ridiculous, and by no means am I saying that all is well in Florida. But in terms of winning the election, we’ve put ourselves in a position to get it done. And right now, that’s my main concern. The rest can be examined once criminal investigations are complete. For now, let’s just get these guys across the finish line. Then new Governor DeSantis can clean house.

He better clean house, anyway.

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Georgia Governor Race:

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Ok, so here’s the deal. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in Georgia, the top two candidates advance to a runoff.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp is currently leading with 50.3% of the vote, above the threshold for a runoff. However, Dim socialist Stacey Abrams argues not all votes have been counted, and mobilized a campaign to reach out to voters who used provisional ballots to ensure their votes were counted.

The problem for Abrams, as Kemp’s camp has pointed out repeatedly, is there are not enough ballots left uncounted to narrow the margin and force a runoff.

But that’s not stopping Dims from pumping out mindless conspiracy theories, arguing that Kemp abused his position as GA Secretary of State in order to suppress votes.

The bulk of the ‘evidence’ of Kemp’s wrongdoing seems to center on the fact that he did his job. During Kemp’s tenure, his office removed 1.5 million voters from the rolls. Contrary to Dims’ wishes, people who die or move are no longer eligible to vote. His office also suspended the registration of 53,000 voters shortly before the election, 70% of whom were OMG BLACK, although a judge ruled these voters could cast a ballot on election day.

As a last gasp Hail Mary, Abrams has filed a lawsuit seeking to block two counties from rejecting absentee ballots with disqualifying mistakes, but it won’t be enough even if she wins.

Bottom Line: Brian Kemp is the new governor of Georgia and Stacy Abrams knows it, but there’s nothing like voter suppression conspiracy theories to keep the outside money rolling in.

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BIG PICTURE:

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I know this will sound counterintuitive, to put it mildly, but bear with me for a moment. What is happening right now in terms of recounts will ultimately be a good thing for us and the nation as a whole.

First off, they’re not going to change anything. I understand the frustration with Arizona, but frankly, that seat was endangered from the beginning for the reasons I laid out. I’m not so naive as to think there were no shady shenanigans afoot, but I don’t believe they decided the race one way or the other.

So aside from the AZ loss, what we’re getting is a #BigFat reason to scrutinize every last aspect of our electoral system while simultaneously maintaining our victories. So in a sense, we get to have our cake and eat it too. There is enormous pressure to clean house in Florida, specifically Broward and Palm Beach counties, which will be important for PDT’s reelection bid in 2020.

We’re also getting a case study in every tactic the Left are trying to steal elections, which means we can adapt and prevent them in the future. If anyone but Donald Trump were president, I’d wonder whether we would actually learn our lesson. Thankfully, he is, and I don’t see this crap flying in 2020.

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KIM PLAYING WITH FIRE:

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When PDT assumed office, my attitude toward North Korea was to hope for the best but expect the worst. Rocket Man, his father and grandfather all have a history of lying through their teeth and manipulating diplomacy to their advantage. Frankly, I viewed war as inevitable, as I saw neither PDT or Kim backing down.

But when PDT called time on Kim’s threats, I was filled with a whole new hope, as Kim had never before been spoken to in that way. Maybe — just maybe I thought — Kim had met his match and would back down in a way never thought possible. I hoped that a new kind of president might produce a new kind of Rocket Man.

Fast forward a couple years. If the latest intel is accurate, things aren’t improving as we’d hoped.

New commercial satellite images released today have identified more than a dozen undeclared North Korean missile operating bases, another sign that Pyongyang is continuing to move forward with its ballistic missile program amid indications that talks with the Trump administration have stalled in recent months.

The use of hidden and undeclared locations to continue to work on missile technology (and consequently their nuclear program) is nothing new, and widely expected among many intel analysts who specialize in the region. All the same, they hurt, because there seemed to be real progress in the time since PDT took office.

The new images show researchers at the Beyond Parallel program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which I can confirm is a reputable organization, have identified 13 of an estimated 20 hidden missile operating bases unreported by the North Korean government.

“These missile operating bases, which can be used for all classes of ballistic missile from short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) up to and including intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), would presumably have to be subject to declaration, verification, and dismantlement in any final and fully verifiable denuclearization deal,” the report states.

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Here are a few of the newly released images:

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WHAT YOU WON’T HEAR IN THE MEDIA:

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While some of the imagery may be new, the tactics aren’t, nor is our knowledge of the sites in question. We’ve known for a while that the North Koreans store much of their weapons capability, including mobile missile launchers, in underground mountain bunkers. The latest intel more or less allows us to fill in details for a story whose plot we’ve known since the beginning.

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Much of our focus will now turn to Sakkanmol missile base, which currently houses a unit equipped with short-range ballistic missiles but could easily accommodate more capable medium and long-range ballistic warheads. Remember, ICBM’s (intercontinental ballistic missiles) are our chief concern, because they allow Rocket Man to send a nuclear-tipped warhead to any city in America. It’s something the North has been working on for quite a while now and are on the cusp of perfecting. Should we end up going to war, it will be over ICBM’s.

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What’s important to know, though, and what the media can’t figure out to tell you, is that the release of these images are more for Kim’s eyes than ours.

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Since the Singapore summit between our two countries, we’ve sought to get concrete promises and actions from North Korea regarding the dismantling of its nuke program, as opposed to the vague gestures of good will we’ve received to this point. NK has argued it is unable to provide comprehensive details about the locations of its nuclear and missile sites because that could serve as a target list should the situation escalate into an armed conflict.

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With the release of these images, we’re able to show Kim that the target list has already been put together, Jack, and any strategy to stall disarmament with the old “we can’t tell you because you could use it against us” excuse becomes moot. Kim is now fresh out of excuses for both not disclosing his nuke sites and not doing anything about them.

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BIG PICTURE:

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Let’s not make this anymore complicated than necessary. The bottom line is Kim has been up to his old games again and we needed a way to push things along.

Kim has publicly announced that he plans to move forward with his nuke program, mass producing new missiles and deploying those that have already been tested. His regime has also shown blatant disrespect to the Trump administration, cancelling several important meetings, including one last week between Secretary of State Pompeo and North Korean officials that was to lay the groundwork for the second summit between our two nations.

The Trump administration needs to get Kim’s attention, and this is one step toward that end. I pray it works, because I fear that attention-grabbing maneuvers in the future won’t be so peaceful, and literally millions of lives will perish as a result.

Pray for our president and our planet.

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HELP FOR CALIFORNIA

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PDT signed a major disaster declaration for the areas affected by the ongoing wildfires in California today, following through on a request made over the weekend by California Gov. Moonbeam Brown.

The declaration orders an increase in federal aid to supplement state, local and tribal areas in Butte, Los Angeles, and Ventura counties.

“I just approved an expedited request for a Major Disaster Declaration for the State of California,” Trump tweeted on Monday night. “Wanted to respond quickly in order to alleviate some of the incredible suffering going on. I am with you all the way. God Bless all of the victims and families affected.”

The disaster relief funds will include grants, loans and programs to help individuals recover after their homes were lost in the wildfires ravaging northern and southern areas of California. The money can cover temporary housing, home repairs and property losses.

The wildfire has killed 31 people thus far, with nearly 230 people missing in Northern California, making it the most destructive and third-deadliest so far in the state’s history.

Again, please pray for all those affected by these horrible fires. It’s hard for one to imagine what Californians are going through.

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NIELSEN ON THE OUTS?

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According to a Failing Washington Post report that cite “five current and former White House officials,” PDT is planning to oust Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen as early as this week.

White House chief of staff John Kelly is reportedly fighting PDT on the matter, hoping to keep Nielsen in place. Kelly hired Nielsen as his chief of staff during his tenure as DHS secretary, then recommended her to take over his position. He’s reportedly defended her for months.

The trouble between PDT and Nielsen is nothing new, as PDT has berated Nielsen in both public and in private since she was hired, largely because of the increasing number of illegals crossing our border over this past year.

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BIG PICTURE:

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While I’m typically hesitant to take WaPo’s word for anything at all, I’m inclined to believe this report because it’s something that has been expected for a while.

I will say that I hope PDT examines the timeframe in which the border really saw the number of illegals increase, which was just after he caved to pressure and signed the EO ending his zero-tolerance policy. Nielsen had nothing to do with that.

Then again, I’m sure there are many other details involved of which neither I nor WaPo are aware.

In any event, I hope this firing somehow helps our situation on the border. We need a pit bull at DHS.

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